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chukovsky said:
With liquids and creams/gels there are very specific rules and if you follow them, you should be fine. If you try to bend them you are likely to lose your expensive hand cream. I have no idea why Boots etc. - and drug stores over here - sell these empty travel bottles for example, as they are clearly not allowed in the regulations.

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Originally posted by Jengie Jon:

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chukovsky said:
With liquids and creams/gels there are very specific rules and if you follow them, you should be fine. If you try to bend them you are likely to lose your expensive hand cream. I have no idea why Boots etc. - and drug stores over here - sell these empty travel bottles for example, as they are clearly not allowed in the regulations.

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Uhm not all of us travel by plane on holiday. As someone whose regular mode of holiday transport is train, I can tell you that I appreciate just being able to carry about the right amount in a small container when possible. When not car travelling your ability to carry something limits what you can carry. That means limited number of bags and a limited weight. If you have to take full sized containers it nearly always means leaving something else behind even if its only a couple of extra pairs of knickers.

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Originally posted by Jengie Jon:
Can I have a gripe here. I am fed up with the fact that if I want wool for making a toy, I have to buy expensive natural fibre stuff which is often rough at least to my hands. What I really want is the oh so cheap, manufactured wool, normally nylon-acrylic mix, which used to be the standard stock in the wool shops of my youth. Now there are no wool shops on the high street and I have to buy from John Lewis' who only sell this stuff in babies coloured double knitting!

Why do I want this wool. I want soft wool, I want wool that is hard wearing and I want permanent strong colours. All properties of the old fashioned cheap wool that we used to buy.

Jengie

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You would be surprised where you can find cheap acylic knitting yarns nowadays, if you are just wanting a plain coloured DK.

In a nearby town that doesn't have a 'wool' shop I asked in a haberdasher's and was directed to one of the charity shops, where they have started stocking a small range of DK and Aran acrylic yarn in both bright colours and pastels.
Odd balls of yarn left over from other people's projects can often be picked up at charity shops and fund-raising coffee mornings.

Wilkinsons keeps a few colours of DK, and so do some pound shops. Presumably other 'homewares' stores may keep yarn too.
Woolworth's used to, but it's a long time since I've been in one, so that may no longer be the case.

Or you can buy online. I have been happy with acrylic DK bought from eBid on a couple of occasions this year. Try googling 'acrylic knitting yarn'.

I suggest that, instead of finding the project and then looking for the yarn, you 'keep your eyes open', and build up a little 'stash' of suitable yarn as and when you find it. Then you will have yarn at hand when you are wanting to start something.
I picked up ten balls of 'flesh' coloured DK acrylic in a sale a couple of years ago. It was one of my best finds, and I still have a couple of balls left for when i want to knit dollies for my new grand daughter.

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Originally posted by Suzywoozy:
I need to venture out into the world of fingerless gloves, it looks so scary though.

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Originally posted by Suzywoozy:
I'm still knitting socks. I love them, but I need to venture out into the world of fingerless gloves, it looks so scary though. I find patterns really scary it's only because I have made 5 socks now (and some help that I had from here on turning the heel) that I feel confident, so expect more requests for help when I go out of my sock knitting comfort zone. Thank you.

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Originally posted by babybear:
I suggest that you go half the way there; fingerless mittens. You make a tube (like the start of a sock, and then you make a thumb gusset, and a little bit of ribbing for the thumb. Then you come back and do a little bit of ribbing for the bit where the fingers join the palm.

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Originally posted by daisydaisy:
Wow - if socks were your first knitting venture then you'll cope with gloves, fingerless or not! The thumb part is a bit odd the first time you do it, a bit like the heel of a sock, but once you get your head around that you'll be fine.

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Originally posted by Earwig:
Calling Otter and all other weavers! I've bought this month's issue of Craft Magazine, and followed instructions on how to make a lap loom. I think it's a fixed heddle loom - it seems to have two heddles that each loop to alternating warp threads, and pull them upward. I've warped it according to the instructions, and I don't know where to go from here! Surely one of the heddles should pull the threads downwards?!

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I don't see it on their website, but I think I can visualize what's going on. Something like this tapestry loom uses two heddle bars, with string heddles, is what I'm thinking. (details of size, warp wrapped around the frame or pegs, etc. are minor - the main thing is how the sheds are made).

If so, no, you don't need a set to pull half your warp threads down - the at-rest position is "down". Referring to the picture of the tapestry loom I linked to above, let's say the string heddles connect the even-numbered warp threads to the upper bar, and the odd-numbered warp threads are connected to the lower bar.

When you pull up on the upper heddle bar, that's going you create a shed - the space between the two sets of warp threads. You run your weft yarn through the shed, so that the weft is going under the even-numbered threads that you lifted, and over the odd-numbered ones that were left at rest.

(Then you lower the bar to close the shed, and beat or pack your weft into place.)

Now you lift the lower heddle bar, lifting the odd-numbered warp threads to create the other shed. When you run your weft yarn through that shed, you're now going over the even-numbered threads that are now at rest and under the odd-numbered ones that you've got lifted.

Does this make sense? It's a lot easier to show someone on a loom than to try to explain.


If you wanted to pull the even-numbered warps up, and the odd-numbered warps down at the same time, you'd need two hands to do it, and would have to have a way of holding them in that position while you put in the weft. You would have a bigger shed, though. Now, time to reverse things, and pull the odd-numbered warps up and the even-numbered ones down. You can't pass the sticks through the warps, and you don't want to re-string your heddles every time, so you need two sticks on each side of the loom, and heddles that are long enough to allow the full range of motion.

There are looms that work that way, and some good reasons to do it, but they're typically floor looms, with treadles to work with your feet, and semi-complicated systems of pulleys and whatnot so the treadles pull some things up and some things down simultaneously. I find the thought of tying up the foot treadles on one of them intimidating. (my floor loom works like your lap loom - the "down" threads stay in the at-rest position).

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The plural of "anecdote" is not "data", YMMV, limited-time offer, IANAL, no purchase required, and the state of CA has found this substance to cause cancer in laboratory aminals

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Originally posted by Earwig:
My problem is - when I lift up the top heddle, it doesn't create a shed - the bottom heddle gets in the way. Have I warped it wrongly?

(I'm at w*rk atm, so I'll have a proper look when I get home).

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Originally posted by Eigon:
At Stitch and Bitch last night, someone mentioned a website called www.woollythoughts.com. I had a look at it this afternoon, and some of the ideas are wonderful - and many of them are based on mathematical ideas like the Fibonacci sequence. You can also crochet your own labyrinth from Chartres, should you feel so inclined (not at the full size, I hasten to add).

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Originally posted by Eigon:
At Stitch and Bitch last night, someone mentioned a website called www.woollythoughts.com. I had a look at it this afternoon, and some of the ideas are wonderful - and many of them are based on mathematical ideas like the Fibonacci sequence. You can also crochet your own labyrinth from Chartres, should you feel so inclined (not at the full size, I hasten to add).

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Originally posted by daisydaisy:
If you find lots of ties at charity shops I've heard they can be undone and made into interesting (stripey) items.

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Originally posted by Otter:
This pattern, and others on this web site, appear to be designed with that kind of use in mind.

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Originally posted by Firenze:
I would love to buy the goodies I see on the web - and if anyone knows any outlets who are prepared to sell to individual overseas customers, let me know. (I can see why they don't; it's a lot of hassle for little return).

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Originally posted by Firenze:

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Originally posted by Otter:
This pattern, and others on this web site, appear to be designed with that kind of use in mind.

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Those look like just the kind of patterns I would like. However, I don't see too much indication that they sell mail order to individuals outside of North America. This is a problem I have in general. The market for fabric craft supplies in the UK is tiny. I live in a capital city, and I would say I know of only 3 places to buy fabric and patterns. And for the latter, the choice is limited to Simplicity, New Look, Burda and Vogue.

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I forgot to check where you are vs. the vendor. I really should know better, let's see what invoking my Google-Fu turns up...looks like Dana Marie Designs Co. has been sold under the names PawPrints and Purrfection in the recent past, and here's a US vendor that says they will ship outside the US. And another one. And a third.

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The plural of "anecdote" is not "data", YMMV, limited-time offer, IANAL, no purchase required, and the state of CA has found this substance to cause cancer in laboratory aminals